Yulia Mevissen

On September 24th, 2024, the Emerging Voices series proudly presented a captivating lecture by Dr. Yulia Mevissen (pen name Yulia Marfutova) from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The event featured her insightful talk, “The most modern New York” – Franz Kafka’s Imagination of America, followed by a reading from her award-winning book, The Sky a Hundred Years Ago (Der Himmel vor Hundert Jahren).

Dr. Mevissen’s lecture delved into Franz Kafka’s imaginative creation of America, despite never having visited the continent. She explored Kafka’s depiction of America against the backdrop of the significant European migration waves to the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The discussion highlighted Kafka’s sources and how migratory experiences and ethnic identity were reflected in his writing.

Yulia Mevissen, born in Moscow, studied German Philology and History at Humboldt University in Berlin and earned her doctorate in Münster, Germany. She currently teaches German, French, and Russian, as well as transnational literature, at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The event offered an evening of literary exploration and cultural reflection.